------- The Bee ------- I was sorting through my mail one Monday evening when I came across this month's issue of "The Lone Gunmen." "The Lone Gunmen" is a monthly conspiracy expose that prides itself on exposing government cover-ups and collusions. Normally, I would glance over it because most of the time, it is nothing more than a supermarket tabloid that gets mailed to your home. Today, when I glanced over the cover, I saw the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. The caption read "FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder displays the Africanized-honeybee that carries the next Black Death." I read the article about the plague carrying honeybees and found it to be a nice work of science-fiction. But that Mulder person...How could I meet him? Then it dawned on me. It was the year 2000, which meant there was a census going on. It would be the perfect way to meet him. The only problem was that I didn't have his address. The offices of "The Lone Gunmen" would have it, but those nuts are so paranoid that they would probably be able to trace the call. So I hopped on the computer and went searching through the Department of Motor Vehicle's database. Before long I had what I was looking for Fox Mulder's home address. It surprised me when his address came up as 2630 Hegal Place, Apartment number 42 in Alexandria, Virginia. It put him right down the street from me. I rushed to go put on my pinstriped suit. (Don't all professionals wear pinstripes?) When I was ready, I loaded up my clipboard with phony answer sheets and headed out the door. It wasn't long before I was standing at his door, knocking, and impatiently awaiting someone's answer. I was just about to turn away and head home, when the door opened. "Can I help you?" asked the brown haired, hazel-eyed man. He was wearing a gray tee shirt and jeans. He stood there in his bare feet holding open the door waiting for my answer. "Yes, my name is Sara," I managed to get out, "and I'm conducting a survey this evening for the American Lung Association. Would you be interested in helping us with our research?" "Sure. Come on in." He stepped aside and allowed me entrance into his humble domain. As he shut the door, he said, "Ask away." As I stared at my clipboard, trying to come up with questions to ask, the phone rang. "Excuse me," he said, and picked up the receiver on the entryway table. I walked into the living room so I would be able to hear as little of his conversation as possible. I did want to hear his conversation; I just didn't want to be rude. I walked along the perimeter of the room starting to my immediate right. There was a door, which I assumed led to his bedroom. There was a little end table, a leather couch and a coffee table. The coffee table was littered with past issues of "The Lone Gunmen." Beside the sofa was a bookcase with a fish tank on it. I looked at the other things on the bookcase: fish food, a various assortment of books, a plant, and there, in a corner, hidden behind a plant leaf, was the vial with the bee in it that had been on the cover of this month's "The Lone Gunmen." I stopped and listened for a moment. Mulder was still on the phone. Very slowly, I reached out and picked up the bee in the vial. I looked at it. The bee looked harmless enough. Yeah right this bee carried the next plague. Even if it didn't, it was still a momento. I placed it in my pocket and walked back towards the entryway. He was still on the phone, so I backed my way towards the door, mouthing the words, "I'll come back later." As I walked out of his apartment and down the hall, I placed my hand in my pocket to make sure the bee was still there. I wondered if he even realized the bee was missing. When I got home, I changed clothes and sat down to ponder this bee. Could this little insect really carry the next plague? Rats carried the Bubonic plague; mosquitoes carried Malaria, but bees? I never found out about the bee and I never went back to visit Fox Mulder. I wonder if he ever thinks about that woman who appeared on his doorstep asking for answers to an American Lung Association survey? Well, at least I have something to remember that secret agent man by.